B Pier to tap Pringle as top pick

MANILA, Philippines - Globalport is determined to make Fil-Am guard Stanley Pringle as the team’s top pick in the coming PBA Rookie Draft.

“He’s the only guy in our mind. Nobody else,” Globalport official Erick Arejola told The STAR.

“We’re well familiar with his game. We played against him and his Indonesian team in ABL (Asean Basketball League) Season III. He beat us in the semifinals and the San Miguel Beer team in the finals. He can play one and two (backcourt) spots. He’s good, a prolific scorer,” Arejola added.

Another former ABL personality said Pringle is a guard possessing the combined strong points of Jayson Castro and Sol Mercado.

Rob Dulay, a PBA veteran who later played for the Singapore Slingers in the ABL, said Pringle could become the best point guard in the PBA.

“He’s like a Jayson Castro, super fast and strong, but he sets the table better. And he’s a very, very good three-point shooter too,” said Dulay on Slam Philippines.

PBA operations chief Rickie Santos said the Penn State alumnus has applied in the draft, but they have yet to check his papers if he’s eligible for the draft exercise.

“We’ve yet to talk to him, but Charlie Dy, who we believe is the one who represents him, said Pringle is joining the draft and he’s eligible,” said Arejola whose team won over Meralco for the first pick through a lottery held before Game One of the Governors Cup finals Tuesday night.

Pringle is a Fil-Am considered by coach Rajko Toroman for the original Gilas Pilipinas team along with Marcio Lassiter and Chris Lutz.

Born in San Diego, California, the 6-foot-1 guard spent his first two years of college basketball at Pasco-Hernando State College before moving over to Penn State and starring for the team with future PBA champion import Jamelle Cornley.

For the 2007-08 season, Pringle played in all 31 games of Penn State, starting in 12. He averaged 6.9 points and 2.3 assists per game, shot a team-best 40.9 percent from three-point range, and had seven double-digit scoring games.

In 2008-09, Pringle helped his team win the NIT championship while averaging 12.75 points, 3.1 rebounds and 2.8 assists, ranking sixth in the Big Ten in three-point shooting percentage with a 45-percent clip.

“Yes, he can score and score in so many ways. We put an import to defend him (in our ABL semis showdown in 2012) and he still burned us,” Arejola recalled.

Before bringing his stuffs to the ABL, Pringle played as an import in Belgium, Poland and Ukraine.

If he ever, he would debut in the PBA as a mature rookie at 27.